Why brainstorming is a waste of time
An excerpt from the book " How to fly a horse: A secret history of creativity, inventions and discoveries " by Kevin Ashton, www.howtoflyahorse.com
Brainstorming was invented by marketing director Alex Osborne in 1939 and was first described in 1942 in his book How To Think. A typical process description is from James Manktelo, the founder and director of MindTools, a company promoting the process as a way to craft creative solutions to business problems:
')
Osborne argued that this technique works very well. He spoke about a group of employees of the American Treasury who came up with 103 different ideas for selling savings bonds in 40 minutes. Corporations such as DuPont, IBM, and even the US government have adopted this technique. But by the end of the 20th century it became almost reflex for many organizations. No one doubts her. Everyone is brainstorming - so it works. But is it?
Statements about the success of technology are based on assumptions that are easy to verify. For example: groups give more ideas than individuals. Researchers from Minnesota verified this with the help of 3M employees. Half of the tested worked in groups of 4 people, others - one by one. Then their results were summed up as if they were working in a group, throwing out duplicate ideas. In each case, four people working alone, developed 30-40% more ideas than groups of 4 people. And the quality of the results was also better, according to the results of their evaluation by independent experts.
The next check examined whether the results would be obtained in larger groups. 168 people were divided into groups of 5, 7 and 9 people, and some worked individually. And these results confirmed that the loners did better than those who worked in groups. And productivity grew as the number of people in a group decreased. Conclusion: "Group brainstorming, judging by the groups of various sizes, suppresses, but does not help creative thinking." Groups were easier fixed on a single idea, and often some members of the group felt pressure and obstacles in the way of their creativity.
Another assumption is that the absence of criticism is better than the evaluation of ideas as they are received. Indiana researchers tested this on students, instructing them to invent the names of three different products. Half of the groups had to refrain from criticism, and the other - to criticize ideas as they were received. Independent judges evaluated the results. A group without criticism gave more ideas, but both groups gave the same amount of good ideas. Lack of criticism only allowed to give bad ideas. This was confirmed by subsequent studies.
The conclusion is simple. It is best to do it alone and evaluate ideas as they arrive. The worst way to create is to do it in large groups and not criticize ideas. Steve Wozniak supports this thought:
Brainstorming does not work, because it rejects ordinary thinking, makes jumps instead of steps, and because it makes the assumption that giving birth to ideas is the same thing as creating. As a result, everyone thinks that ideas are the main thing. But Stephen King claims that the most popular question to book authors is “Where do you get ideas?”
Ideas are like seeds. Most of them are idle and do not germinate. Ideas are also rarely original. Several groups will come up with similar ideas for the same task at the same time. This limitation is not only brainstorming - this is so for any creativity. Since creativity goes in steps, not in jumps, most things are invented in several steps at the same time, when people follow the same path, unaware of others. Four different people found sunspots in 1611. Five people came up with a steamer between 1802 and 1807. Six people invented electric railways between 1835 and 1850. Two people came up with a silicon chip in 1957. Ogburn and Thomas policy researchers, studying this phenomenon, dug out 148 cases where important ideas came to different people at the same time, and concluded that the longer they search, the more such cases will be found.
To come up with ideas is not to create. Creativity is a performance, not an inspiration. Many people give birth to ideas, but very few people do anything to realize what they have invented.
Brainstorming was invented by marketing director Alex Osborne in 1939 and was first described in 1942 in his book How To Think. A typical process description is from James Manktelo, the founder and director of MindTools, a company promoting the process as a way to craft creative solutions to business problems:
Brainstorming is often used in business to inspire teams to create original ideas. This is a meeting in which a leader designates a task to be solved. Participants then propose ideas to solve, and develop the ideas of other participants. The strict rule is not to criticize ideas. They may be insane or unacceptable. This frees people and enables them to freely create ideas and break established patterns of thinking. Besides finding good ideas, brainstorming is also fun.
')
Osborne argued that this technique works very well. He spoke about a group of employees of the American Treasury who came up with 103 different ideas for selling savings bonds in 40 minutes. Corporations such as DuPont, IBM, and even the US government have adopted this technique. But by the end of the 20th century it became almost reflex for many organizations. No one doubts her. Everyone is brainstorming - so it works. But is it?
Statements about the success of technology are based on assumptions that are easy to verify. For example: groups give more ideas than individuals. Researchers from Minnesota verified this with the help of 3M employees. Half of the tested worked in groups of 4 people, others - one by one. Then their results were summed up as if they were working in a group, throwing out duplicate ideas. In each case, four people working alone, developed 30-40% more ideas than groups of 4 people. And the quality of the results was also better, according to the results of their evaluation by independent experts.
The next check examined whether the results would be obtained in larger groups. 168 people were divided into groups of 5, 7 and 9 people, and some worked individually. And these results confirmed that the loners did better than those who worked in groups. And productivity grew as the number of people in a group decreased. Conclusion: "Group brainstorming, judging by the groups of various sizes, suppresses, but does not help creative thinking." Groups were easier fixed on a single idea, and often some members of the group felt pressure and obstacles in the way of their creativity.
Another assumption is that the absence of criticism is better than the evaluation of ideas as they are received. Indiana researchers tested this on students, instructing them to invent the names of three different products. Half of the groups had to refrain from criticism, and the other - to criticize ideas as they were received. Independent judges evaluated the results. A group without criticism gave more ideas, but both groups gave the same amount of good ideas. Lack of criticism only allowed to give bad ideas. This was confirmed by subsequent studies.
The conclusion is simple. It is best to do it alone and evaluate ideas as they arrive. The worst way to create is to do it in large groups and not criticize ideas. Steve Wozniak supports this thought:
Work alone. You better develop revolutionary products or new features. Not in a team, not in a commission.
Brainstorming does not work, because it rejects ordinary thinking, makes jumps instead of steps, and because it makes the assumption that giving birth to ideas is the same thing as creating. As a result, everyone thinks that ideas are the main thing. But Stephen King claims that the most popular question to book authors is “Where do you get ideas?”
Ideas are like seeds. Most of them are idle and do not germinate. Ideas are also rarely original. Several groups will come up with similar ideas for the same task at the same time. This limitation is not only brainstorming - this is so for any creativity. Since creativity goes in steps, not in jumps, most things are invented in several steps at the same time, when people follow the same path, unaware of others. Four different people found sunspots in 1611. Five people came up with a steamer between 1802 and 1807. Six people invented electric railways between 1835 and 1850. Two people came up with a silicon chip in 1957. Ogburn and Thomas policy researchers, studying this phenomenon, dug out 148 cases where important ideas came to different people at the same time, and concluded that the longer they search, the more such cases will be found.
To come up with ideas is not to create. Creativity is a performance, not an inspiration. Many people give birth to ideas, but very few people do anything to realize what they have invented.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/290158/
All Articles